Antitrust & Competition

Practice Area

Antitrust & Competition

Federal and state antitrust laws comprise a complex web of regulations that are difficult for companies to navigate and can have widespread consequences if handled incorrectly. For companies currently doing business or intending to do business in the United States who are concerned about these regulations, the attorneys in Lewis Brisbois’ Antitrust & Competition Practice have the broad understanding necessary to serve as successful guides.

We have extensive experience handling an array of antitrust and competition matters in an efficient and cost-effective manner that exceeds clients’ expectations. Some of those matters include price-fixing, bid-rigging, supply restrictions, market divisions, price discrimination, monopolization, and exclusionary practices.

Antitrust Litigation

Lewis Brisbois represents corporate clients in private single-party, multi-party, and class action, treble-damage lawsuits brought under federal and state antitrust laws. We have extensive experience with antitrust class certification issues, consolidation of multi-district cases, and other procedures governing complex litigation in the United States and can do so in a cost-effective manner. Although we seek to resolve matters favorably for our clients at the earliest possible stage of litigation, we are highly qualified to try cases before federal and state judges and juries.

Antitrust Compliance & Counseling

Our main goal is to prevent litigation, and we provide a full array of antitrust compliance and counseling services to corporate clients in order to achieve that goal. We are capable of preparing antitrust audits, assessing and implementing antitrust compliance programs; preparing antitrust compliance policies; conducting in-person antitrust training programs and seminars; designing sales, marketing, and distribution systems; advising clients on pricing and distribution mechanisms; and structuring joint ventures, integrations, and strategic alliances.

Intellectual Property

Antitrust issues can often arise from the acquisition, licensing, and enforcement of patents and, to a lesser extent, trademarks, while litigation over allegations of patent infringement also frequently raises antitrust questions. Lewis Brisbois’ lawyers have experience with these issues from the perspective of both the patent holder and the alleged infringer and coordinate with our Intellectual Property & Technology Practice when necessary.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Antitrust problems frequently arise in the sale or transaction-negotiation process, so Lewis Brisbois’ attorneys aim to identify those problems early in the process and assist clients with structuring transactions to avoid or minimize potential antitrust risk. If a transaction is reportable under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, we navigate the merger review process on behalf of our clients as cost-effectively and expeditiously as possible.

We are capable of appearing before the Federal Trade Commission, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the various state attorneys general, and we are familiar with the analytical approach in information gathering techniques employed by the federal and state antitrust enforcers. In addition, we regularly assist clients seeking to raise concerns regarding the anticompetitive actions of competing suppliers, distributors, and retailers with the FTC, DOJ, and relevant state attorneys general.